Friday, July 2, 2010

This begins our first week of competition for the 2010 We Live to Eat Contest. Vote for your favorite of this week's competitors in the poll on your left. (No, the other left.) Get your entries by email to blackenedout at gmail dot com. Ohh and don't feel that you have to include every meal. Just where and what would you eat in New Orleans on a perfect day. Let's begin. Mr. Marithyme

To begin the day, I would start with an almond croissant, an iced cafe au lait, and a Times-Picayune at Crescent D'Or. A simple and delicious way to wake up with the day.For lunch at Luke, I'd start out with a half dozen P&J oysters (god bless them right now). For my main course, I'd have to go with the steak and fries with bernaise sauce...and since we're living large on this imaginary day, let's go ahead and have that topped with jumbo lump crabmeat.

At Stanley, not to break from the day's gluttony, I would have to go with an ice cream soda made with vanilla ice cream and strawberry Italian soda syrup.

Leaving the Quarter for pre-dinner drinks, one can't do much better than Cure for a few Sazeracs. Their specialty cocktails are amazing, but no bar has ever made a Sazerac with as much care and reverence for this under-appreciated New Orleans staple.

Then, it's off to Galatoire's. Assuming all things were good that day, I'd start with an order of fried eggplant and souffle potatoes, and a gin and tonic. Moving on to the main course, I'd have the trout meuniere topped with Crabmeat Yvonne, with a side of Spinach Rockefeller. A simple cup or two of coffee would be the perfect end to the meal.

Assuming this turns into "one of those nights", I would then find my way to Vic's Kangaroo Cafe for some delicious Shepherd's Pie. There are many late night eats that one regrets in the morning (Tchoupitoulas Street, cheese fries, and elevated dance floors come to mind). The Shepherd's Pie is not one of them.

Stephen Agans

BREAKFAST - Cake CafeYou know it is going to be a good day when you wake up to the chef text messaging you that they have pulled pork. That’s right, pulled pork, oozing all over your breakfast sandwich. The formula? Half a bagel + an entire egg and cheddar omelette + at least a half pound of pulled pork goodness slathered in a homemade tomato sauce + some Crystal + the other half of your perfect, chewy, everything bagel. Oh, and of course, the ever important orange slice, because you need your daily dose of vitamin C. Still hungry? Of course you are, that’s why you are getting the red velvet cupcake and 3 cups of coffee. There you go, Chief, now catch up on some gossip with the Cake Man, flirt with that cute hipster in the corner eating her pastry and you just might make it to.....

LUNCH - BayonaDon’t invite that hipster. Just trust me, this is not going to be a meal suitable for someone you fully intend to lock lips with after you are finished eating. You start with the bowl of garlic soup; perfectly mellow, slow cooked garlic pureed and flourished with even more crisp garlic on top. Then just when you thought your breath could not get any worse, you end up ordering what every other guy gets - the duck sandwich. Which is covered in cashew peanut butter. And jalapeno jelly. Hhhhhaaaaaalepeno... Jelly.... Nice and spicy, with a little fennel salad on the side (licorice anyone?) Even the mango sorbet is not enough to cleanse the palate of that magnificent feast you just finished. Thankfully you had some of those 19 cent martinis to help get your through the next few hours. The menu specifically states that you are limited to 3 martinis, which seems a little unreasonable, but you roll with it. You just get the third to go while you walk around the French quarter, killing time until.....

HAPPY HOUR - Bar ToniqueSo the martinis are starting to wear off and it is blisteringly hot. You need a strong drink, which is why you meander into Bar Tonique. It is ever so conveniently a Tuesday, which means you are ordering the whiskey tasting- 4 shots of libation such as rye whiskey, Japanese scotch and anything else the bartender wants to talk about. And talk he will - this man knows more about whiskey than you know about your mamma and dem. You walk away drunker, smarter, and just a tad hungry, which is why you hail a taxi to get...

DINNER - Gautreau’sSo after your cabbie circles around a few times, you find the non-descript door which leads to culinary heaven. Ever thankful you were wearing your summer best all day long, you sit down with your buddies and get a perfect Manhattan on the rocks and casually look at the wine menu. You stick to the cocktails and think about the appetizers. Who could pass up sweetbreads? Or the scallops? So after having both, you move on to your filet. You can’t finish it, but for some reason that doesn’t stop you from the dessert. Sounds so simple, chocolate cake, but you can’t believe how that seemingly small plate has beaten you. But before you slip into a food coma, you order the coffee and despite your better judgement head off to.....

LATE NITE - YukiIts 1:00am. Crap, how did it get to be 1:00am??!! You look at the underside of your wrist and see multiple stamps, so you know you had a good time. But now your inhibition is gone and you are hungry. You somehow bypass the Negril tacos, the 13 tater tachos and end up at Yuki. That bowl of udon soup warms you up while the cold saki makes the sweltering night A OK. And don’t forget the potato, uh, things and the squid, uh... you know, its better to just point when the waitress asks you what you want. You just need to eat and go home.

9am: Breakfast at Stanley - The Eggs Stanley (fried oysters, poached egg, Canadian bacon, hollandaise on English muffin... and since we're dreaming big, I'd ask for some extra oysters on the side) Anytime you can combine hollandaise sauce and oysters, I'm down like a clown.

Noon: Set menu at MiLa for lunch. In a perfect world I'd have the Curried Squash soup, then the Filo-Crusted Redfish, then the Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding. Oh, I'd have a bottle of wine, too.

3:30pm: Cocktails at the Sazerac Bar. I'd have a French 75 or a Sidecar.

7pm: Dinner at Upperline. Start with the Duck and Andouille Etouffee, then the Fried Green Tomatoes with Shrimp Remoulade, for my entree I'd have the Fish Meuniere with Mustard Greens, Cornbread and Crabmeat, and I'd have the bread pudding for dessert.